Bar clips Eagles games after Vick's signing

SANDPOINT — Football season is just around the corner, but customers at one local sports bar will have to find new accommodations if they planned on watching any Philadelphia Eagles games or drinking any Coors Light.

Steve Coffman, owner of Slates Prime Time Grill and Sports Bar, is boycotting the Eagles and its corporate sponsors — including the makers of both Coors and Miller beer — until the team releases Michael Vick, its newly acquired quarterback. Vick, who spent two years in prison for his role in a dog fighting ring, signed a two-year contract with the Eagles late last week.

An animal lover with three dogs of his own, Coffman said he was disgusted by the Vick case and the NFL for allowing him back into the league. When he learned of a national boycott called “Sack Vick,” Coffman decided to join the cause.

 “I’ve just about had it,” he said. “When you look at some of these sports players and what they do and what they get away with … and we as consumers just seem to turn a blind eye every time this goes on. I think I’ve just reached a point where I said, ‘I’ve had enough of this.’”

With the boycott, Slates will no longer carry its most popular beer, Coors Light, and will not air any Eagles games. The Eagles ban means customers accustomed to watching Monday Night Football at Slates will be out of luck on Oct. 26, when the Washington Redskins host the Eagles for a Monday night matchup.

Coffman said the boycott will continue until the NFL severs all ties with Vick.

“That’s the goal, to get him out of the NFL,” he said. “Of course, if we go after the sponsors, those that give the money, maybe they’ll listen and at least pull their sponsorships back. The only way you’re going to hurt a team is through their pocketbook.”

Despite being more than 2,000 miles away from Philadelphia, Coffman said he hopes his boycott will add strength to a growing movement.

“I think I have to just make a stand, even though we’re way up here in northern Idaho,” he said. “Hopefully, a lot more businesses and bar owners are going to make that same stand.”

Coffman has sent e-mails to the NFL, the Eagles and a number of corporate sponsors requesting Vick’s termination.